Club musicians turn vegetable sellers in lockdown-hit Bengal town

The raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak has overnight
turned Siliguri-based professional musicians Rahul Sarkar and Prashant
Mitra into vegetable vendors to make their both ends meet.

The duo
has been going around door-to-door with bicycles laden with vegetables
and fruits, a career option, which wasn’t in their wildest nightmares
when they had left their homes in North 24 Parganas district’s Jagaddal
three years ago and came to Siliguri, located about 500 kilometres away,
to try their luck as professional musicians.

Sarkar (33) started
playing the drums, while Mitra (48) hit the keyboards for bands at a
couple of bars in Siliguri. They made Rs 700 each daily for their
evening gigs, accompanied by a dash of glamour and some fame among the
club circles in the Darjeeling district.

However, the nationwide
lockdown restrictions, which were initially enforced for 21 days from
March 25 and then further extended for another 19 days till May 3 to
contain the spread of Covid-19, have changed their lives upside down.

Sarkar and Mitra, who have been friends since their struggling days
at Jagaddal, are busy carting vegetables and fruits on their bicycles
all day to fend for their families and also send some money back home.

“I
never thought I would be selling vegetables and fruits, but right now
this is all I can do to take care of my family,” said Sarkar.

“The
outbreak has taught me a lesson. I’ve learnt to accept the harsh
reality. One should not hallucinate about life,” said Mitra, whose
father lives with his sister in neighbouring Assam.

Sarkar’s son, who has started going to playschool, wife and father
live in Jagaddal, while Mitra lives with his wife in Siliguri. The
stage, the duo says, has become a distant dream, as the bars have been
closed for an indefinite period following the state government’s order.

Sarkar
and Mitra received some help in cash and kind from well-wishers and the
North Bengal Stage Performers’ Association (NBSPA) that was formed on
April 6 to help members in distress. The money helped Sarkar and Mitra
start the vegetable business, but it was barely enough to buy two
weighing scales. The friends, bound by a common fate, decided to work
together as makeshift vegetable vendors to tide over the acute financial
crunch.

“Most of our colleagues are in dire straits. Our jobs will be of least priority even after the bar reopens,” said Mitra.

Around one thousand musicians, dancers, singers and anchors were
working in the 50-odd bars in Siliguri, the biggest town and business
centre in north Bengal, before the lockdown was clamped.

“These people enjoy no social security, as they’re treated like daily-wage earners,” said Deep Chattopadhyay, secretary, NBSPA.

“We
formed the association to help ourselves. Our means are limited. We
need support from the state government,” said Chattopadhyay, a saxophone
player and an English teacher at a local high school.

https://www.hindustantimes.com

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The raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak has overnight turned Siliguri-based professional musicians Rahul Sarkar and Prashant Mitra into vegetable vendors to make their both ends meet.